Gillian Baxter

Gillian Baxter (1938- ) is a British children's author best-known for her many pony books. Raised initially in London, she was educated at the Camden School for Girls, and moved with her family to Gatton, in Surrey. A horse enthusiast from a young age, she began riding when she was twelve, and worked in and around stables for much of her youth. Her first book, Horses and Heather, was published in 1956, when she was only fifteen years old. Many of the characters and riding stables that appear in her stories are based on real-life equivalents. After a hiatus of some years, Baxter returned to publishing in 2018, and has brought out a number of horse stories for adult readers, including the adult sequels to her children's pony book series, Bracken Farm.